Small tidbits and Sparks of wisdom

The spiritual DNA of the grandchildren of Abraham is to live differently from ordinary human nature, human notions, and human desires. The purpose of a Jew is not simply to follow whatever direction the surrounding world happens to be traveling. It is to recognize the Creator, to remain connected to Him intellectually and spiritually, and to thank Him for everything.

This is really a very simple idea:

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

The Physical World and Its Creator

When the majority of humanity lives according to its natural instincts, the focus naturally turns toward the physical world and obtaining the maximum possible pleasure from it. Human beings seek comfort, enjoyment, wealth, food, possessions, beauty, entertainment, experiences, and everything else that provides physical and emotional satisfaction.

But a person can enjoy all of these things without ever stopping to recognize or thank the Creator.

Once a person believes in and recognizes the Creator, the entire perspective changes. Nobody created himself. Nobody created his own intelligence, body, personality, abilities, or the world around him. Nobody created the countless things from which he receives pleasure.

The basic logic is simply to connect the dots.

If I did not create myself, and I did not create this world, then Someone created me and created all these extraordinary things from which I receive pleasure.

The natural response should therefore be gratitude.

The Torah Is the Guidebook

The Torah is the guidebook. Some of its instructions are clear, while others contain deeper and more hidden instructions that require study and understanding.

It teaches a person how to blend the physical world with the spiritual world without allowing the physical world to become the purpose of existence.

The Torah does not necessarily demand that a person abandon physical pleasure. It teaches him how to experience physical pleasure while maintaining spiritual purpose as the main focus.

A person can eat and thank Gd.

He can drink and thank Gd.

He can enjoy his family and thank Gd.

He can succeed in business and thank Gd.

He can see something beautiful and thank Gd.

He can wake up every morning and thank Gd.

The danger begins when a person takes the gift and forgets the Giver.

The physical world does not have to compete with the spiritual world when the physical itself leads a person back to its Creator.

What the Torah Means by the Heart

When we say that a person must connect everything back to the Creator in his heart, the Torah meaning of “heart” must be understood correctly.

The heart does not refer only, or even primarily, to emotion. In the terminology of the Torah, the heart is also the place of thought, understanding, recognition, intellectual awareness, and inner consciousness.

Therefore, thanking Gd “in one’s heart” means more than experiencing an emotional feeling of gratitude.

It means intellectually recognizing reality:

I did not create myself.

I did not create what I possess.

I did not create the world from which I receive pleasure.

The language of the heart can also encompass the deeper, nonphysical and immortal dimension of the human being.

The Jewish purpose is therefore to keep this recognition alive within one’s heart and mind—to intellectually connect creation with the Creator and continually recognize and thank Gd for everything one receives.

The Lottery Winner and the Self-Made Man

There is an interesting comparison between a lottery winner and an extremely successful person.

Both can arrive at exactly the same place: neither believes there is anyone to thank.

The lottery winner attributes his fortune to randomness. His numbers happened to come up. There was no purpose behind it. It was simply chance.

The successful businessman makes the opposite argument.

He says:

“I worked. I took the risks. I made the decisions. I built the business. I created my success.”

The lottery winner effectively says:

“Nobody gave this to me. It was random.”

The successful person says:

“Nobody gave this to me. I did it myself.”

They appear to be opposite explanations, but they arrive at precisely the same conclusion:

There is nobody to thank.

One hides the Creator behind randomness.

The other hides the Creator behind himself.

But who gave the successful person his intelligence? Who gave him the personality capable of taking risks? Who gave him his health? Who arranged the people he happened to meet? Why did he enter one business instead of another? Why did one telephone call arrive at precisely the right moment? Why was he born in one country, during one generation, with one particular collection of circumstances rather than another?

Of course he worked hard. Human effort is real. But millions of people work extremely hard without achieving extraordinary financial success.

Precisely because the successful person worked hard, his challenge can be even greater. His own effort can hide the Source of his success.

The human being naturally wants to say:

I worked for it. I built it. I chose correctly. I earned it.

That is where gratitude can disappear.

Randomness cannot eliminate gratitude, and personal effort cannot eliminate gratitude.

Work hard, but recognize Who gave you the ability to work.

Use your intelligence, but recognize Who gave you that intelligence.

Enjoy success, but recognize that countless circumstances necessary for that success were never under your control.

Instead of saying, “I made myself,” the Jewish heart and intellect say:

“I did everything I was required to do, but what I have ultimately comes from Gd.”

The European Enlightenment and Physical Comfort

In Europe, the Enlightenment and the Jewish Haskalah brought an enormous transformation to Jewish life. Over the generations that followed, large portions of European Jewry moved away from traditional Torah observance. In many places, the majority eventually ceased living lives centered upon keeping the mitzvos.

This was more than a change in religious practice. It represented a change in the direction and priorities of life.

European society increasingly presented material advancement, personal freedom, social acceptance, education, culture, physical comfort, and individual desire as central measures of a successful existence.

Jews were offered entrance into that world, and many embraced it.

But the pursuit of physical comfort as an independent purpose is fundamentally incongruent with the Jewish purpose.

Comfort itself is not necessarily the problem. Physical pleasure itself is not necessarily the problem. Wealth itself is not necessarily the problem.

The question is: What is the purpose?

The moment physical comfort, visual pleasure, wealth, social acceptance, entertainment, or personal desire becomes the primary objective, the order has been reversed.

The physical has become the master rather than the instrument.

That is contrary to the spiritual DNA inherited from Abraham.

Abraham’s direction was not determined by what the surrounding civilization considered desirable, fashionable, comfortable, or socially acceptable.

When the World Runs in One Direction

This distinction becomes especially important in the modern world.

When something becomes overwhelmingly popular because of physical, visual, or sensual enjoyment—when pleasure and stimulation themselves become the purpose—it should immediately cause the grandchildren of Abraham to question it.

If society is running overwhelmingly in one direction because something looks good, feels good, provides excitement, or constantly satisfies human curiosity and desire, the Torah Jew cannot assume that its popularity proves its value.

Sometimes its popularity should produce exactly the opposite reaction.

The surrounding world says:

Maximize the experience.

Maximize the pleasure.

Follow what attracts you.

Look at everything.

Experience everything.

Satisfy your curiosity.

The Torah Jew asks different questions:

Who created me?

Why am I here?

What is this doing to my mind?

What is this doing to my heart?

Does this help me remember Gd, or does it make me forget Him?

Instagram, the Internet, and the Modern Generation

This brings us directly to our generation.

Never before has a human being carried such an enormous supply of visual stimulation, entertainment, information, distraction, desire, and curiosity in his pocket every waking hour.

Instagram, social media, and the Internet can provide an almost endless stream of interesting and visually attractive material.

The world follows it because it is interesting.

The world follows it because it is stimulating.

The world follows it because human nature wants to see more.

And precisely here lies the challenge for the grandchildren of Abraham.

A Jew living completely blended into the surrounding non-Jewish world, consuming the same entertainment, following the same images, absorbing the same culture, pursuing the same physical comforts, and constantly exposing his mind to the same distractions must ask what remains different about his direction.

The wisdom inherited from Abraham demands the ability to move against the current.

If the entire world decides that constant Internet connectivity is essential to modern life, perhaps the Jew should at least have the intellectual courage to consider the opposite possibility:

Maybe less Internet is better.

And where it is realistically possible:

Maybe no Internet is better still.

Not because technology itself is automatically the issue, but because the question is what occupies the human mind and heart.

If something constantly fills the mind with the physical world, visual stimulation, curiosity, comparison, entertainment, and desire, while leaving less room for recognition of the Creator, then its usefulness must be measured against its spiritual cost.

The fact that everyone else considers something indispensable cannot itself determine the Jewish approach.

The Purpose of the Grandchildren of Abraham

The true Jewish purpose is remarkably simple:

Acknowledge the Creator.

Remember the Creator.

Thank the Creator.

And ultimately, teach the world to recognize and thank Him.

Everything comes back to that recognition.

The Torah contains an enormous world of mitzvos, wisdom, laws, obligations, and instructions, but underneath everything is the constant connection between creation and its Creator.

Do not take the gift and forget the Giver.

Do not look at success and see only yourself.

Do not look at apparent randomness and see only chance.

Do not look at physical pleasure and forget Who created the capacity for pleasure.

Do not allow the surrounding civilization to determine what deserves your attention merely because millions or billions of people are looking at it.

The continuity of the Jewish people has always depended upon remembering that we are the grandchildren of Abraham and that our direction does not have to be the direction of everybody around us.

The world may run toward something.

The Jew must first ask where it is running and why.

Sometimes the Jewish response is to use the physical world and elevate it by connecting it to Gd.

And sometimes the Jewish response is simply to turn around and walk in the opposite direction.

The ultimate purpose remains the same: to remain connected to Hashem, to preserve the continuity and purpose of the Jewish people, and to recognize the Creator behind everything.

At the end, the fundamental message is extraordinarily simple:

I did not create myself.

I did not create this world.

Everything I have ultimately comes from Gd.

And therefore:

Thank You.

Thank You.

Thank You.